AGUA CALIENTE, Venezuela (AP) — At a crossroads not far from a gas station overgrown with weeds, young men and women in faded green fatigues stop vehicles returning from a rally for opponents of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, ask passengers for their identifications, and inspect their cars, trucks and motorcycles.
Such checkpoints have proliferated across the country’s vast tropical plains, forested highlands and beachfronts in the run-up to Sunday’s presidential election, aiming to intimidate and occasionally detain government critics. They often involve a request for a ride, bananas or “collaboration” — Venezuela’s euphemism for a small bribe.
But the power play frequently falls flat. When their superiors slip away from the
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